Harper had her 2 week check up yesterday. She has grown 1 1/2" in the past 2 weeks and is in the 90%-ile for her age. She weighed 9 lb 3 oz. At her first follow up visit a week and a half ago, her weight had dropped to 8 lb from her birth weight of 8 lb 11 oz. so she has more than regained her birth weight. She gets more beautiful each day.
Spenser also decided it was ok to start kissing her this weekend. Next step, teach gentle kisses.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Harper's First 10 Days
Here we go with Harper's first 10 days! If you don't want to know about the medical goop, skip straight down to the pictures. Otherwise, carry on!
We checked into the hospital at 4:30 AM to start our induction. The concern was that Harper was measuring pretty big and I was showing no good signs of progressing to getting our not so wee little baby out. As is typical, we spent the first 2 hours just getting checked in, checked over and assessed by the nurses, labs drawn, an iv started and an ultrasound to check on Harper's weight as well as the status of her amniotic fluid level. (It was critically low with Spenser, which led to his induction a week early) Around 7:30 AM, my doctor came to check on me and strongly recommended proceeding with the induction. (Our other options were to go straight to C-section or wait another week and try an induction then with a greater risk of C-section.) We elected to go ahead with the induction. As with Spenser, Dr. S had to break my water with a fetal scalp monitor. We started the pitocin and settled in for things to start happening. Mild contractions started within the next 30 minutes and the pitocin was increased by 2 milliUnits every 30 minutes. I ended up topping out at 7 milliUnits, which is a miniscule amount in the scheme of pitocin use. By 11 AM, the contractions and pressure was intense enough to be making me nauseous and life in general was pretty unbearable despite all my Bradley relaxation methods and zen training. I chose an epidural at that point because percocet and zofran were doing nothing to take the edge off. Having read all the anti-epidural literature and blog rants, I have to say that I could feel the need to push and control the pushing. I could move my legs, even though I couldn't feel them. I had no post-epidural headache or back pain. The epidural this time was much better than the one I had with Spenser. I was completely comfortable once it got started. I was also making good progress on the dilation front as well. Around 5 pm, I was starting to feel more pressure, so the nurses had me do a "test push" and immediately had me quit until they could call the doctor to the room as that test push had caused Harper to start to crown. Once Dr. S was in the room, I only gave two strong pushes and Harper was in the world!
An emotional first meeting between Mom and Harper. The cord is still attached here, but not for long before Dad got to cut it.
Geting weighed! 8 lb, 11 oz and 20 inches long. Her eyes are a lighter shade of blue than Spenser's and her hair could be described as dark blond or golden brown.
Mom and Dad with their gorgeous new baby. Look how alert she is!
First bath with Dad in the nursery.
Sweet chubby pink cheeks. She's asleep in the hospital basinet and wearing a hat that was knit by a hospital volunteer.
Home at last and cuddled up to Mom. She's been a very calm baby so far.
Long toes for such tiny little feet!
Her squishy lips crack us up.
Spenser is using Daddy as a lounge chair here. C is not nearly as tired as the picture makes him look.
Spenser "talking" on Mom's cell phone.
I've tried every permutation and can't get these photos to be right side up. Spenser doesn't waste much time paying attention to his new little sister. They both happened to be asleep at the same time, so I snuggled her up next to him so we could get a picture of them together. I can't decide if he looks sooo big or she looks sooo tiny!
Peeking out to see what's going on.
First bath at home. She seemed to enjoy it and did not cry even when I washed her hair.
Clean baby that smells like honey. (Love Burt's Bees Baby Wash)
Asleep again on the couch.
We checked into the hospital at 4:30 AM to start our induction. The concern was that Harper was measuring pretty big and I was showing no good signs of progressing to getting our not so wee little baby out. As is typical, we spent the first 2 hours just getting checked in, checked over and assessed by the nurses, labs drawn, an iv started and an ultrasound to check on Harper's weight as well as the status of her amniotic fluid level. (It was critically low with Spenser, which led to his induction a week early) Around 7:30 AM, my doctor came to check on me and strongly recommended proceeding with the induction. (Our other options were to go straight to C-section or wait another week and try an induction then with a greater risk of C-section.) We elected to go ahead with the induction. As with Spenser, Dr. S had to break my water with a fetal scalp monitor. We started the pitocin and settled in for things to start happening. Mild contractions started within the next 30 minutes and the pitocin was increased by 2 milliUnits every 30 minutes. I ended up topping out at 7 milliUnits, which is a miniscule amount in the scheme of pitocin use. By 11 AM, the contractions and pressure was intense enough to be making me nauseous and life in general was pretty unbearable despite all my Bradley relaxation methods and zen training. I chose an epidural at that point because percocet and zofran were doing nothing to take the edge off. Having read all the anti-epidural literature and blog rants, I have to say that I could feel the need to push and control the pushing. I could move my legs, even though I couldn't feel them. I had no post-epidural headache or back pain. The epidural this time was much better than the one I had with Spenser. I was completely comfortable once it got started. I was also making good progress on the dilation front as well. Around 5 pm, I was starting to feel more pressure, so the nurses had me do a "test push" and immediately had me quit until they could call the doctor to the room as that test push had caused Harper to start to crown. Once Dr. S was in the room, I only gave two strong pushes and Harper was in the world!
An emotional first meeting between Mom and Harper. The cord is still attached here, but not for long before Dad got to cut it.
Geting weighed! 8 lb, 11 oz and 20 inches long. Her eyes are a lighter shade of blue than Spenser's and her hair could be described as dark blond or golden brown.
Mom and Dad with their gorgeous new baby. Look how alert she is!
First bath with Dad in the nursery.
Sweet chubby pink cheeks. She's asleep in the hospital basinet and wearing a hat that was knit by a hospital volunteer.
Home at last and cuddled up to Mom. She's been a very calm baby so far.
Long toes for such tiny little feet!
Her squishy lips crack us up.
Spenser is using Daddy as a lounge chair here. C is not nearly as tired as the picture makes him look.
Spenser "talking" on Mom's cell phone.
I've tried every permutation and can't get these photos to be right side up. Spenser doesn't waste much time paying attention to his new little sister. They both happened to be asleep at the same time, so I snuggled her up next to him so we could get a picture of them together. I can't decide if he looks sooo big or she looks sooo tiny!
Peeking out to see what's going on.
First bath at home. She seemed to enjoy it and did not cry even when I washed her hair.
Clean baby that smells like honey. (Love Burt's Bees Baby Wash)
Asleep again on the couch.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Harper Lynn is here!
Harper Lynn was born on 7/11/11 at 5:13 PM. She weighed in at a healthy 8 lb 11 oz and is 20 inches long. Everyone in the family is doing great. We had a 10 hour induction (as opposed to Spenser's 4 day one) and she was delivered after only two pushes. She was bright eyed and wide awake after delivery and nursed without difficulty for an hour within the first thirty minutes of making her debut. We are hoping to be discharged home later this evening and I will start getting pictures up after we get settled in. If you can't wait that long, I do have a single picture up on my flickr account at flickr.com. If you need my user name, make sure I know who you are and how to email you.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
It's Mid July Already??
Not much new to report on. I managed to finish all my shifts without going into labor or being ordered into the hospital by my doctor. My mom flew in on July 1 and has been waiting around for the new baby ever since. We had a pretty low key Fourth of July holiday. I think everyone was asleep by 9 pm when the public fireworks started. We did get two tiny little fountain style fireworks so Spenser could see what all the fuss was about. Our usual unbearably hot and humid July weather has settled in for the rest of the summer. That means I have been taking Spenser swimming quite frequently. The water has warmed up a lot since we did swimming lessons last month, so he is enjoying it much more now that when he was shivering and turning blue during lessons.
I'm still pregnant. Induction is scheduled for Monday the 11th if I don't go before then. I've been having some cramps intermittently for the past two days, so keep your fingers crossed that this is things warming up to go on their own, so I can avoid the pitocin.
I'm still pregnant. Induction is scheduled for Monday the 11th if I don't go before then. I've been having some cramps intermittently for the past two days, so keep your fingers crossed that this is things warming up to go on their own, so I can avoid the pitocin.
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